London, 20 April 2015. The United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Initiative is the newest signatory to the Statement on fiduciary duty & climate change disclosure, a commitment to make use of climate change-related information as a matter of fiduciary duty.

The signatories feel strongly that reporting on climate-related information is part of their fiduciary responsibility. It is the first time that such a significant collective commitment on climate disclosure has been undertaken.

“More and more businesses have started to realise that not responding to climate change is going to cost them money,” said Fiona Reynolds, managing director of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). “Investors are putting pressure on companies to disclose their climate plans and indicate how they plan to transition their business from a high carbon to a low carbon environment. So initiatives like the fiduciary duty and climate change disclosure statement are a good way to ensure corporate action on climate is being communicated to investors.”

Mardi McBrien, CDSB’s Managing Director said: “We encourage all investors to incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes and call on companies to provide such disclosures. We hope that the statement will send a clear signal to the UN climate change negotiations on the private sector’s support for a strong deal in Paris this year.”

In support of the commitment, the CDSB partnership has developed a common framework for the inclusion of climate-related disclosure in mainstream corporate reports. The Climate Change Reporting Framework, which is ready for wider application by companies and investors, has an important role to play in broadening the United Nation’s strategy on climate change beyond the intergovernmental negotiating process.